A friend of mine reached out to me for advice. It sounds like he has an opportunity to purchase a bunch of various 50 BMG at good but not fire sale prices.  At this time, all he knows is that there's 5 or 6 different kinds, and some of it is pricy per round

Over the years, I've seen discussion of various types of 50 ammo other than basic ball ammo, including stuff described as armor piercing, incendiary, sabot, and the explosive tip (?) Raofoss stuff.

I see some 50 ammo described as "armor piercing" that is for sale on known vendor's websites, and understand that legitimate military ammo pops up for sale from time to time, but I know nothing about 50 cal stuff.

I am seeking advice as to whether any types of this stuff is illegal for a civilian to own, or whether it  could be problematic and should be avoided for any reason- The best analogy that I can come up with is that its not illegal to own night vision, but if someone was selling a PVS-14 for $500 and wanted to meet me outside of an army base to sell it to me, I'd have to assume that it was stolen property and "too good to be true"- and would therefore not buy it.

Help me 50 Cal Forum.

thanks!!

Please keep the GD crap out of the Tech Forums.

In the flyover states, it's all legal.  in KALI and NYASTAN, forget about it!

I'm unaware of any Sabot .50 with the Tungsten penetrators being sold commercially.


AP, API and APIT have all been sold commercially.


I bought some API when Federal lost the contract and Winchester took over.

50BMG ammo is not banned in Ca

As long as it is M33 ball, AP, or something like a commercial target round like a bronze/copper solid or Amax.

If it has any kind of tracer property that is banned same as any other tracer round, can be charged as a felony for each round.

Got any pics of the ammo, that way we could identify what your buddy has. Also need to know what state he lives in to know if it's legal or not.

Yes as is API, doesn't have to be loaded either, can be just the projo!

Don't FAFO, it's not worth it, CA doesn't care and it's the law, been this way for a long time.

There’s a ton of faked raufoss ammo around. One tool sold enough on gunbroker to buy a lake house. At some point, a member xrayed it and confirmed it was repainted to look the part.

I wouldn’t pay a premium for anything from a unknown source. Most of the variety of bullets were sold as components over the years and there have been good and bad companies loading it.

I have seen SLAP and SLAP-T sold locally. I have a few rounds of each.